Is your Mac’s kernel running at 32 (instead of 64)-bit?

UPDATED Jan 20

…..well then you better go catch it.  Groan.

Three ways to check :

1. for the cli-comfortable - from terminal, run

uname -a | awk '{print $15}'

returns I386

2. under sys profilers “Software” section, 64-bit Kernel and Extensions

value is set to No

3. when showing all processes from activity monitor, kernel_task Kind is

just intel(not intel 64-bit)

via http://www.osxbook.com/blog/2009/08/31/is-your-machine-good-enough-for-snow-leopard-k64/

UPDATE:

Yes, it’s a “good thing”, compatibility-wise, to stay in 32-bit mode.  Some mac software breaks if run on a system booted from the 64-bit kernel.  Where to do your due diligence:

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

Now with an app you can run to check your system’s apps(haven’t tested.)